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Thursday, June 22, 2017

'Defenceless' pensioner, 65, 'was battered and stabbed to death with a hammer and a Poundland craft knife by his 38-year-old bride's lover

Lover of alleged killer married pensioner shortly after split from her ex-husband

Court hears accused impersonated alleged victim to set up life insurance policy

He then murdered him with a hammer and a craft knife at rented flat, jury told

Both the alleged killer and his lover deny murder in an ongoing trial

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Muhammed Arif is accused of getting his lover to marry a pensioner with learning difficulties, who he then murdered for money

A pensioner was battered to death by his young bride's lover in a plot to cash in on his £250,000 life insurance, a court has heard.

Father-of-two Mohammed Yousaf, 65, was found dead at a rented house in Accrington, Lancashire after he was hit over the head with a hammer as he slept, a jury was told.

Two months before his brutal murder, his alleged killer Muhammed Arif had pretended to be Mr Yousaf to set up a life insurance policy in a nearby Barclays bank, Preston Crown Court heard.

The jury heard Mr Yousaf's wife of just five months, 38-year-old Rukhsana Bibi, had been having a long-running affair with married Arif before the killing.

Mr Yousaf had learning difficulties, was illiterate and could not read or write in English, prosecutors said.

He was found dead in September last year. Tests showed his skull had been 'shattered' and he had knife wounds to his neck thought to have been inflicted with a Poundland craft knife.

The victim's undated will named Bibi as beneficiary and Arif, 45, as a legal guardian. But documents found with the will were believed to have forged signatures on them.

Detectives who searched Bibi's home in Todmorden, West Yorkshire found what they believed were practice signatures in Mr Yousaf's name on a piece of paper, Preston Crown Court heard.

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Mohammed Yousaf, a 65-year-old who had learning difficulties, was found dead at a rented flat in Accrington, Lancashire in September last year

'This was we say a planned killing in order to make monetary gain,' said Gordon Cole QC prosecuting. 'Muhammed Arif has in effect inveigled his way into Mohammed Yousaf's domestic and financial arrangements through his girlfriend Rukhsana Bibi.

'Throughout the relevant time we say Arif was having a sexual affair with Bibi.'

Mr Yousaf married Bibi under Islamic law in April 2016 - just two days after her divorce from first husband Abdul Hafeez with whom she had two children and who was Arif's brother.

But ten days before the wedding Mr Yousaf had 'gifted' his £45,000 home in Accrington to Mr Hafeez during a meeting at a solicitor's office.

Arif himself attended the meeting and claimed the transfer was a 'gift' to assist Hafeez in 'applying for a visa for his wife.'

In that same month, an application was made for a £500,000 life insurance policy in Yousaf's name. The sum was reduced at the request of insurers Avia to £244,411, the court heard.

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Arif is said to have impersonated Mr Yousaf to set up the life insurance policy

The court heard Arif himself purported to be Yousaf and attended a branch of Barclays to commence the policy.

Mr Cole said: 'Mohammed Yousaf had been receiving support from a social worker, and there had been concerns he may been have had learning difficulties.

'Mr Yousaf himself had reported to his social worker that it was Arif who had proposed the marriage between him and Bibi.

He added: 'Arif and Bibi were to benefit financially from the death of Mohammed Yousaf. There is evidence of Arif and Bibi having lived together before she married Hafeez - a relationship that had gone on for quite some time.

'Notwithstanding the fact that he had arranged the subsequent marriage, the prosecution say that the affair, that relationship continued after Bibi's marriage to Yousaf.'

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Police at the murder scene in Accrington after Mr Yousaf's battered body was found

Arif picked up Mr Yousaf from an airport and took him to an empty property and killed him, it was alleged.

The victim's body was found by the landlord of the property when he round to collect the rent.

The court heard Bibi was in Ireland at the time visiting a brother of Arif.

Arif's home in Accrington was also searched and there police found Mr Yousaf's will, which named Bibi as a beneficiary and Arif as the guardian of £25,000 cash. Traces of the victim's blood were also found in Arif's VW Passat.

Arif and Bibi both deny murder. Arif's wife Amna Asif, 48, denies perverting the course of justice by providing her husband with a false alibi at the time he is alleged to have committed the murder.